The 11.6" MacBook Air Notebook Computer (Early 2015) from Apple is an ultraportable notebook computer with a thin and lightweight design. Apple's engineers have leveraged the lessons they learned in designing the miniaturized iPad and applied them to the design of this 2.38-pound computer.

To say that the Air is svelte is all at once stating the obvious and understating the truth. The system is defined by its unibody aluminum enclosure. At its thickest point the computer is only 0.68" -- it tapers down to 0.11" at its thinnest. The system is loaded with 256GB of flash storage rather than an old-fashioned hard drive. Flash storage doesn't just give you a lighter, thinner computer. It also allows for impressive battery life -- up to 9 hours of web browsing and 30 days of standby time.

The MacBook Air is housed in an aluminum unibody enclosure, which is as strong as it is light. Because it is cut from a solid block of aluminum, the housing is stronger than those found on laptops built via traditional means. At 11.6" in size, the 16:9 display features a native resolution of 1366 x 768. It features a glossy finish and LED backlight technology for enhanced image quality and energy efficiency.

Computers in the MacBook Air's weight class are most often classified in the "netbook" category. Netbooks typically feature less-than-full-size keyboards, cramped trackpads, and low-powered CPUs. Not so with the MacBook Air. This computer features a standard-size backlit chiclet keyboard, the same as on the larger computers in the MacBook line. It also has a large multi-touch glass trackpad, giving you full control over your computer -- without sacrificing ergonomics.

The computer is powered by a dual-core 5th-gen, low-voltage Broadwell 1.6 GHz Intel Core i5 processor and has 4GB of onboard 1600 MHz LPDDR3 RAM. Graphics are provided by integrated Intel HD Graphics 6000. The computer features all the amenities you expect on a Mac -- a FaceTime HD webcam, dual-band 802.11ac Wi-Fi (also compatible with 802.11a/b/g/n), Bluetooth 4.0 and built-in stereo speakers.

This MacBook Air comes preloaded with the user-friendly Mac OS X operating system. The Mac OS X features Time Machine backup, which automatically backs up system data to an external hard drive. It also features natural scrolling, the Launchpad application launcher and support for full screen applications. Mission Control combines the functionality of Dashboard, Exposé, and Spaces -- giving you a bird's eye view of everything that is happening on your computer.

The Auto Save feature on the MacBook Air ensures that you won't lose data, even when you forget to save a file. The OS tracks different versions of your documents, so you can go back to a previous draft of a document with ease. AirDrop makes it easy to transmit files wirelessly between computers, even if there is no central Wi-Fi network available. The revamped Mail application takes full advantage of modern widescreen displays.

And of course, you can expand the functionality of your computer system by browsing through the multitude of productivity applications, games, and other software that is available for purchase from the Mac App Store. Because the software in the store is curated by Apple, you can be sure that it is free of malware and safe to use. And, like the iOS App Store, you'll automatically be notified when updated versions of your favorite programs are available for download.

Design

Thin, Light, Durable. Thank You, Flash Storage

Flash storage helps make MacBook Air incredibly thin and light - under an inch and as little as 2.38 pounds. Flash storage uses solid state technology, meaning there are no moving parts. No moving parts means flash storage is more reliable, durable and quiet than traditional hard drives. And it takes up much less space than a traditional hard drive - about 90 percent less, in fact. That creates room for other important things, like a bigger battery. So you have a notebook that weighs almost nothing and runs all day long. Now that's mobility mastered

The Best Way to Multi-Touch on a Notebook

Multi-touch technology is an essential part of Apple products. It's an immersive way to interact with your devices. And the optimal way to experience Multi-Touch on a notebook is through a trackpad. That's precisely the case with MacBook Air. The trackpad's spacious, all-glass surface doesn't have a button because the whole thing is the button. And with multi-touch gestures in Mac OS X, you can interact with MacBook Air in ways that feel more intuitive and realistic than ever before.

See Your QWERTY in Lights

Anyone can try to make a notebook that's thin and light, but success comes in doing it without cutting corners. That's why MacBook Air features a fully featured keyboard that's just as comfortable to type on as a desktop keyboard. And the keyboard is backlit, so you can type in low-light conditions with ease. A built-in sensor detects changes in the ambient lighting and adjusts the keyboard and display brightness automatically, giving you the perfect illumination in any environment.

A Battery That Can Get You Through the Day and the Month

Thanks to smaller components such as flash storage, Apple is able to allocate space for a bigger battery. And when the goal is to design the perfect notebook for everyday use, giving priority to the battery just makes sense. With the MacBook Air, you'll get up to 9 hours of battery life for both web browsing and watching iTunes movies. Put MacBook Air to sleep for more than 3 hours and it enters standby mode. That means you can come back to MacBook Air up to an entire month later and it wakes in an instant. Please note that battery life may vary depending on use.

A Thing of Beauty and Durability

The MacBook Air features a unibody design for both the main enclosure and the display. Unibody construction means a higher-precision, less complex design with fewer parts. That translates to a notebook that's exceptionally thin and light, yet durable enough to handle the rigors of everyday use. In addition, MacBook Air offers innovations like the MagSafe 2 power connector, which breaks cleanly away from the notebook if you accidentally trip over the power cord.

Features

5th Generation Broadwell Intel Core Processors

MacBook Air is powered by the fifth-generation Broadwell Intel Core i5 processor. This ultra-efficient architecture was designed to use less power and still deliver high performance. This means not only can you do whatever you want - you can keep doing it for longer than before. In addition, the new Intel HD Graphics 6000 provides high performance you'll especially notice with games and other graphics-intensive tasks.

802.11ac Wi-Fi: Three Times Faster

MacBook Air now supports ultrafast 802.11ac Wi-Fi. When connected to an 802.11ac base station - including the new AirPort Extreme and AirPort Time Capsule - wireless performance is up to 3x faster than with previous generations of the MacBook Air with 802.11n. And your Wi-Fi range improves as well. With Bluetooth technology, you can connect MacBook Air to Bluetooth-enabled devices like speakers and headphones.

A Display of Excellence

Corner to corner and pixel by pixel, the MacBook Air display is both an engineering feat and a design breakthrough. The display measures a mere 4.86 millimeters (0.19 inch) thin, yet its resolution makes you feel like you're looking at a larger screen. The 11.6" MacBook Air features a native resolution of 1366 by 768 pixels. And LED backlighting makes colors bright and vibrant from edge to edge.

720p FaceTime HD Camera

Let your friends and family see more of you with the 720p FaceTime HD camera. And the widescreen format means everyone can fit into the picture without having to crowd around the display.

Dual Mics

The dual microphones in MacBook Air are great for when you want to be heard. If you're making a FaceTime call, for example, the mics reduce background noise from behind the notebook. And when you use Dictation, they create an adaptive audio beam that intelligently adjusts to detect your voice.

Multi-Touch Trackpad

The Multi-Touch gestures in Mac OS X make everything you do on MacBook Air more intuitive, direct, and fun. And the spacious Multi-Touch trackpad is designed for them, whether it's a three-finger swipe to activate Mission Control or a four-finger pinch to see all your apps in Launchpad. Gestures are smooth and realistic.

Performance

Dual-Core Broadwell Intel Core i5 Performance

Fifth-generation Broadwell Intel Core i5 processors - based on the 14nm architecture - give MacBook Air the power you need to finish the task at hand. The dual-core 1.6 GHz Intel Core i5 processor can also be overclocked up to 2.7 GHz, thanks to Intel Turbo Boost 2.0 technology. In addition, the Broadwell chips are much more power efficient, which means you're able to do all the things you love to do on a computer for longer than ever - up to 9 hours between battery charges. And with the Intel HD Graphics 6000, you get faster graphics performance.

Fast Flash Storage

Part of what makes MacBook Air so responsive is that it's designed entirely around flash storage. Not only does this make MacBook Air much lighter and more portable than traditional notebooks, it also provides fast access to data. The flash storage is up to 9x faster than a traditional 5400-rpm notebook hard drive.

Thunderbolt 2 and USB 3.0

With the lightning-fast Thunderbolt 2 port, you can connect your MacBook Air to the latest devices and displays, like the Apple Thunderbolt Display. MacBook Air also comes equipped with two USB 3.0 ports so you can connect the latest USB 3.0 devices and all your USB 2.0 devices as well. With just a few connections, MacBook Air transforms from an ultraportable notebook to a complete workstation.

Fast Memory

MacBook Air features 4GB of superfast, power-efficient 1600 MHz LPDDR3 memory. Combine that with powerful processors and faster flash storage and you get a notebook that can run more memory-intensive applications at the same time - without compromising performance.

Hardware and Software Made for Each Other

Since the software on every Mac is created by the same company that makes the Mac, you get a fully integrated system in which everything works together perfectly. OS X works with the processor in your Mac to deliver the best possible performance. The Multi-Touch trackpad on every Mac notebook gives you more than enough space to pinch, swipe, and tap your way around most of the apps on your system. OS X gives you long battery life by dimming the screen in low-light conditions and even regulating processor activity between keystrokes.